In the past, buildings such as cinemas, theaters, concert halls, arenas and other areas of public entertainment have been provided with seating which is permanently fixed to the floor. Indeed, related building codes require that venues, having more than 200 seats, incorporate anchors that secure the seats in place.
More recently there has been a tendency for such buildings to serve more than one purpose. For example, a building for public entertainment may be required, on one occasion, to serve as a sports hall, and on another occasion to serve as a concert hall or theatre. Similarly, seating arrangements in concert halls, theatres or arenas may need to be reconfigurable to suit the requirements of a particular production being staged.
Tiered seating systems have been devised which, when not in use, can be folded or otherwise collapsed against a wall of the building in which they are situated (e.g. telescopic seating systems such as those disclosed in commonly assigned patent applications Ser. No. 61/856,013, entitled Telescopic Seating Systems, and Foldable Chairs and Related Components for use within Telescopic Seating Systems, filed Jul. 18, 2013 and Ser. No. 61/868,547, entitled Telescopic Seating Systems, and Foldable Chairs and Related Components for use within Telescopic Seating Systems, filed Aug. 21, 2013), thus freeing the floor area for other purposes. However, there has, so far, been no satisfactory solution to the problem of installing reconfigurable seating on a sloped floor.
Seating for an audience in a public building or arena must comply with statutory regulations. These regulations are principally intended to ensure that the building or arena can be evacuated rapidly in the event of an emergency. Thus, there is a minimum spacing which must be observed between adjacent rows of seats, and provision must be made for preventing the rows of seats from moving relatively to one another in a way which would reduce the spacing below this minimum. Also, adjacent seats in a row must be secured together to ensure that they cannot move independently when in use.
One way of meeting the statutory requirements is to secure the seats individually to the floor, but this is unsatisfactory. However, installation and removal of the seats are very time consuming when the individual chairs are secured to the floor. Furthermore, it is not acceptable for the seats to be individually fastened to the floor when the condition of the floor is important, for example if the floor is to be used, on other occasions, as a dance floor or a playing surface for sports.